Keith’s note: Today’s attempt to launch Orion EFT-1 has been scrubbed today after continuing issues with ground winds – and then with fill and drain valves on the Delta IV Heavy Launch vehicle. There were also issues with battery levels on the rocket’s video system. The plan seems to be to try again tomorrow with a 7:05 am ET launch time.
Keith’s update: According to speakers at today’s NASA press briefing, the ship that caused the launch delay was never in a position to present a safety hazard. While winds caused the first two scrubs, the ultimate scrub for the day had to do with sluggish response times for liquid Hydrogen valves on the Delta IV Heavy. This is an issue that has been seen before on a prior launch. There are also some minor issues having to do with battery life for instrumentation inside of Orion and inside the Delta IV Heavy rocket that are being addressed. If a launch attempt is made tomorrow but is not successful, then ULA will need to skip over Saturday in order to replenish ground tanke supplies. Overall the tone of the briefing was that this all went by the books, the issues are understood and can be handled.
“launch window expired”? What does that mean for a rocket/payload that has no destination?
This is more of a test flight to see how the Orion performs. I’m sure the specific flight profile is determining the launch parameters.
The destination was the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. The rocket also has to avoid other spacecraft and debris in its flight path.
meh
Recovery zone issues?
while the Orion is going up and then coming back down, launch windows depend not only on a pathway to getting to a specific destination, but also depend on the path of the launch vehicle and of other things that are in orbit. a later launch time might cause its orbital path to intersect with a satellite’s orbital pathway, for example.
Plus, I think they wanted to make sure they had plenty of daylight left after splashdown for recovery of the spacecraft. If it misses the target, it might take a while to get the recovery ship in position.
i’m sure you’re right!
For this mission, a major consideration is probably the lighting conditions for launch, orbit, and landing. Also, the position of the moon and sun can cause restrictions due to impact with star trackers on the vehicle.
very good points!
While that’s certainly a consideration it’s likely the window is designed for optimum lighting conditions throughout the test.
Another component defining the launch window is workload on the personnel involved. If the launch is delayed beyond a certain point, it can make for a very long workday for everybody. Tired people have a higher tendancy to make mistakes.
Also its about having enough daylight in the recovery area to complete operations after splashdown.
With the ground wind issue: was it an actual issue with the weather or with the wind sensors? I heard during the final stall in the countdown that they were switching to a different wind monitoring system. Or did I miss something?
I thought I heard 21 kt gusts. That is pretty strong.
I was out there on the causeway. The wind gusts seemed to move north and south and seemed to hit the launch site each time as the count reached the point Orion went on internal power. The wind gusts lagged where we were watching it from compared to the SLC but they were strong. I have seen several space shuttle launches and was amazed how quickly they could turn around for another launch attempt. Lets hope the weather cooperates tomorrow for the next attempt and traffic can stay out of the range safety area.
Yes, they did change the way they were going to monitor wind. They turned off the sensors and so the flight controller was essentially going to stick his finger out the window, and decide if it was go or no go. What really actually happened FC took over responsibility for looking at wind speed indicators and determining go/no go on that basis.
Where’s that can of WD-40 and pack of Energize Bunny batteries…? Drat!
When do they try again????
NASA’s next chance to launch Orion will come on Friday (Dec. 5) at 7:05 a.m. EST (1205 GMT), with forecasts calling for just a 40 percent chance of good weather for the launch try.
that is certainly a consideration, as well
If that autonomous spaceport drone ship hadn’t been down range on their first attempt would they have launched?
Over on NASASpaceflight.com, some of those in the know suggest that the problem may have been caused by the repeated aborts earlier in the countdown. Simply put, the valves had been kept at extreme cryogenic temperature too long and had seized.
The concern that arises from this is, of course, whether such a hardware issue can be fixed. ULA were apparently saying “Yes, but it would take longer than we had in the launch window.”
Why do these valves stick? Haven’t they done the same on other flights? Hasnt ULA criticised Spacex for tweaking their rockets? Why hasn’t ULA fixed this problem before this flight? Maybe ULA’s Rockets are not as safe as they claim. Maybe they should constaintly improve their rockets like SpaceX
Safer operation model
Spacex
Suggestion add heaters to the valves
That would make the liquid hydrogen flash-boil on contact with the components, which would be catastrophic. The valves are okay but only for so long. After a while, the cold damages their moving parts. The trick is not to lose hours after tanking the rocket due to bad weather (and, according to one theory, SpaceX cheekily towing their landing barge through the launch exclusion zone – Not confirmed BTW but it was certainly a very large barge of some kind).
Thanks Ben, Is this valve thing only an issue with hydrogen rockets? Less of an issue with say methane right??
Maybe Elton John can write lyrics to a song titled, “NASA Couldn’t Light A Candle In The Wind”. 😉
Best wishes for a successful launch tomorrow.
I don’t believe they would have launched. If I recall what I heard over the Causeway speakers correctly, in addition to the boat, they had a propellant conditioning issue that was also holding them at the same time.
Was watching the attempt in a hotel today. I think it was the Weather Channel. They were showing all these cool concept pictures of what Orion would do, include colonize Mars.
Pics were actually SpaceX concept art with Dragon v1
Planet Earth is an extremely unique and important planet. Not only is
it our home, but it houses millions of species of animals and plant
life – or flora and fauna, to you purists. This is not a planet to be
taken lightly, and we must therefore do everything in our power to make
sure that it never succumbs to the terrible devices that we have
constructed.
Mankind needs to change its aggressive and violent
nature. Our nature to destroy and conquer others by force, our nature to
ignore the suffering of others, our fear of those that are different,
our intolerance and inability to accept those that are different, all of
these problems – and many more – need to be addressed and eradicated
before we think of going anywhere. Otherwise, we will bring those
problems with us, and compounded with the harsh experience of space
travel and living in a new world, humanity will meet its end to be sure.
Think
of the problems that could arise from space exploration? To those
problems, which is important to mention that we cannot conceive all of
them, since space and its effects are still mostly unknown, now add the
problems that we as a species bring inherently within us, you know:
violence, greed, corruption, mistrust, etc. How could we possibly
survive space exploration?
Our economy, which is a human device,
not part of nature, is one of our biggest problems. In fact, space
exploration is being stalled because of the economy.
How can
anyone expect humanity to conquer space, when we cannot even conquer the
problems in our economy? Something that we have created.
I can go on and on about this topic. I should stop…..for now.